Re: US, Canada Face Off Over Garbage

In article <Dg75i.618$As5.440@xxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"George Z. Bush" <georgezbush@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

That ubiquitous law of unforeseen consequences suggests that a complicating
result of passing that law might be a boycott of imported goods from the US
that
ends up in the garbage that the Canadians need to dump somewhere. IOW, they
might tell us that if we want to sell our merchandise in Canada, we need to
take
back the packaging materials it comes in. What then? Would you consider
that
an unreasonable position for the Canadians to take?

Personally, I feel that if the Canadians are dumping garbage in the US, it's
with the specific approval of the owners and operators of the landfill
facilities concerned and it's a privilege for which the Canadians are paying
a
price to those operators. I think the government needs to *** out of the
arrangements that exist.

George Z.



Florida wrote:
US, Canada Face Off Over Garbage
May 15, 2007

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill giving U.S. states
-- like Michigan -- the power to ban the importation and dumping of
solid waste and hazardous waste from foreign countries -- like Canada.

Should the bill H.R. 518 become law, Michigan could immediately stop
over 400 Canadian garbage trucks a day from dumping their loads in the
state's landfills. Most of the Canadian garbage enters Michigan from
Ontario, where officials have already agreed to stop sending Michigan
its crumpled masses of household trash, but not until 2010.

While the House passed the bill on a voice vote, its fate in the
Senate is more uncertain. President Bush has stated his opposition to
the bill under NAFTA and other existing trade agreements with our
northern neighbor. Canada, for example, accepts shipments of hazardous
waste from 32 U.S. states and, as the Toronto Star points out, "could
retaliate by ending that arrangement and forcing the U.S. to find
another home for its own waste."

http://usgovinfo.about.com/b/a/217606.htm?nl=1
________________________________


from: GOVTRACK.US "Independently Tracking the United States Congress"
(see also Congresspedia.)

Legislation > 110th U.S. Congress (2007-2008)
H.R. 518: International Solid Waste Importation and Management Act of
2007

To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to authorize States to restrict
receipt of foreign municipal solid waste and implement the Agreement
Concerning the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Waste between the
United States and Canada, and for other purposes.

Summary

Bill Status
Jan 17, 2007 Introduced
Mar 29, 2007 Scheduled for Debate
Apr 24, 2007 Passed House
- (to be) Voted on in Senate
- (to be) Signed by President

This bill has been passed in the House.
The bill now goes on to be voted on in the Senate.

Bill Overview
Sponsor: Rep. John Dingell [D-MI]

Cosponsors (19)
Rep. Tammy Baldwin [D-WI]
Rep. David Camp [R-MI]
Rep. John Conyers [D-MI]
Rep. Jo Ann Davis [R-VA]
Rep. Vernon Ehlers [R-MI]
Rep. Wayne Gilchrest [R-MD]
Rep. Paul Gillmor [R-OH]
Rep. Peter Hoekstra [R-MI]
Rep. Dale Kildee [D-MI]
Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick [D-MI]
Rep. Joseph Knollenberg [R-MI]
Rep. Sander Levin [D-MI]
Rep. Thaddeus McCotter [R-MI]
Rep. Candice Miller [R-MI]
Rep. Michael Rogers [R-MI]
Rep. Bart Stupak [D-MI]
Rep. Frederick Upton [R-MI]
Rep. Timothy Walberg [R-MI]
Rep. Albert Wynn [D-MD]

Last Action: Apr 24, 2007: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the
bill Agreed to by voice vote.

Cost: < $1 per American in 2008 [still not determined]
[cost is estimated from a Congressional Budget Office report, by
dividing the estimated cost of implementing the legislation by the
U.S. population. It is a gross estimate.]

Other Bills with the Same Title
109th Congress: S. 1198
109th Congress: H.R. 2491
Votes on Passage
Apr 24, 2007: This bill passed in the House of Representatives by
voice vote. A record of each representative's position was not kept.
__________________________

(see also Congresspedia.)

The solution is just around the corner. The melting of the tundra in
Ontario will let them dig enough earth to bury their waste themselves
and not have it lined up to cross the border for hours ruining the
ambiance in Windsor or Sarnia. But thinking about it, there isn't a good
reason to expect them to be colder than the Lower Peninsula of Michigan
other than Celcius using smaller numbers than Fahrenheit.

--
http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/authors/index.jhtml
http://shop.comedycentral.com/Books-by-Guests_stcVVcatId452047VVviewcat.htm
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America http://www.iava.org/index.php
.